'The fading future of our children'

I have a close acquaintance who works in a bank with a decent salary. Yet, during the last Eid, he calculated three times before buying new clothes for his child. For the last ten days of every month, he lives in constant fear, the fear of having “no money left in hand.” Just 10 to 11 years ago, this same man used to take his family on trips twice a year. Now, even that feels like a distant dream. Every month, he is forced to break into his savings just to run the household. I must also mention my own situation. While I somehow manage my children’s school fees and transportation, now I have to apply for advance salary from my office at least twice a year, especially during admission or re-admission time and final exams. Many days, I cannot even send them to school properly. Taking the family on a trip has become nothing more than a beautiful but unreachable dream. These are not isolated stories. It represents the harsh reality of thousands of Bangladeshi middle-class families. On paper, they are still “middle class,” but in truth, they are slowly sliding downward every single day.

In Bangladesh, there is no official government definition of the middle class. Economists generally define it based on daily per capita income, roughly between 2 to 10 US dollars. In simple terms, a middle-class family is one that can afford three meals a day, save a little, educate their children reasonably well and occasionally spend on some recreation or emergencies. But while the definition sounds simple, surviving as middle class in today’s Bangladesh is becoming increasingly difficult.

According to a study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), in 1992 only 9 per cent of the population belonged to the middle class. By 2015, the figure rose to nearly 20 per cent and by 2025, it is estimated to have reached 25 per cent.

The number of middle-class people in Bangladesh has actually increased. According to a study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), in 1992 only 9 per cent of the population belonged to the middle class. By 2015, the figure rose to nearly 20 per cent and by 2025, it is estimated to have reached 25 per cent. At first glance, this looks like progress. However, a study by the Pew Research Centre reveals a painful truth. While the number of middle-class people has grown, their share of the national income has significantly declined compared to previous decades. National wealth is increasingly concentrating in the hands of a few, while the so-called middle class is being pushed towards the margins. It is a story of growth in numbers, but decline in real strength.

In June 2026, the country’s overall inflation rate stood at 9.16 per cent, while wage growth was only 8.18 per cent. This means the price of essential goods is rising faster than people’s income. As a result, even if salaries increase on paper, the real purchasing power continues to fall. The pressure is even more severe in non-food expenses such as house rent, medical costs and children’s education. School fees have risen by up to 60 per cent in some cases, while house rent has increased by around 40 per cent. Many families are silently eating into their savings to cover these gaps. For many, savings have already disappeared.

The middle class is becoming poorer for several interrelated reasons. Weak market management allows middlemen to earn excessive profits, creating a wide gap between the prices farmers receive and those consumers ultimately pay. At the same time, corruption, mismanagement in public projects, tax evasion, and unnecessary government expenditure increase economic inefficiencies, with the burden ultimately falling on ordinary citizens. Institutional weaknesses further aggravate the situation. High levels of non-performing loans in the banking sector, lack of investment and slow private sector growth have reduced employment opportunities and kept wages largely stagnant, making it increasingly difficult for middle-income families to cope with the rising cost of living.

The government has indeed set rules for minimum wages and salary structures under the labour law. But in reality, most private companies simply ignore them. This is may be why company owner or employers can ignore the government rules. Firstly, the monitoring agencies have very limited manpower and capacity. The Department of Labour does not have the infrastructure to properly watch over the salary structures of the country’s millions of institutions. Secondly, the punishment for breaking labour laws is so light that many companies find it cheaper to just pay the small fine instead of giving fair wages. Thirdly, there are far more people looking for jobs than available positions. Employers know this very well, if one worker refuses a low salary, ten others are waiting desperately in line.

This is where the government’s failure becomes painfully clear. Making policies on paper is not enough. To make them real, we need strong monitoring bodies, a fast and effective system to handle complaints and punishments so strict that companies actually fear breaking the law. At the same time, the country urgently needs to create more jobs. As long as there are far more job seekers than jobs, workers will have no power to negotiate for better salaries. They will remain helpless and forced to accept whatever little is offered to them.

Middleclass jobholders and business group, though their struggles are different, both groups are heading towards the same painful destination, a life where their abilities and financial strength are slowly shrinking. For salaried people, it is a daily battle between their fixed salary and the unpredictable rise in prices. Inflation keeps eating away at whatever they earn. For businessmen, the problems are even more painful and complicated. They face sky-high interest rates on loans, endless difficulties in getting bank loans, sudden and frequent changes in government policies and the overwhelming power of middlemen. A small businessman who started his journey with his own hard-earned savings now has to compete with giant corporations. These big companies enjoy powerful connections with banks and politics, along with tax benefits and other advantages. As a result, small businessmen are gradually falling behind in the fight for survival, while the big players grow even bigger and stronger. This unfair competition is slowly swallowing the entire middle-class business community.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking contradiction lies here. The people who sit in Parliament and make decisions about salary structures and inflation control live completely different lives from the ordinary middle-class people they make policies for. Those who decide the minimum wage for workers send their own children to expensive private universities or abroad for studies. Those who create market control policies have never had to bargain for vegetables in the local market.

This huge distance between their lives and the harsh reality of common people is the biggest gap between policy and reality. How can someone who has never felt this pain truly understand how urgent and deep this crisis is?

The solution is not easy but it is possible. We need strong market monitoring, strict enforcement of labour laws in the private sector, better coordination between monetary and fiscal policies and genuine political will to protect the middle class.

The middle class is not just a statistic. They are the parents who wake up every morning worrying about their children’s future, their parents’ treatment and maintaining their dignity. If this class collapses, the backbone of the entire economy will break. Consumption, savings and investment the three main wheels of the economy are largely depend on them. If we fail to protect the middle class, the story of Bangladesh’s development will remain only in numbers, not in real life.